


literally, figuratively

by verity



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Female Friendship, Queer Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 13:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7619341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verity/pseuds/verity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patty took Abby by the arm and gently towed her into the booth, where they could pretend to have some privacy. Holtzmann was warming up her soldering iron and Erin was trying to teach Kevin how to use his iPhone contacts: the privacy was mildly less illusory than usual. "What's the deal with the three of you?"</p><p>"We're scientists?" Abby said. "Unless you meant to include Kevin."</p><p>"Bless that child, no." Patty gestured from Abby to Holtzmann (gleefully affixing things to other things with molten metal) and then to Erin. "I mean, this situation."</p><p>"We all believe in ghosts?" Abby tried. "We all have Ph.D.s?"</p><p>Patty looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "Is this some kind of Sisterhood of the Traveling Lab Coat or do you have a <i>history</i>?"</p><p>"None of us wear lab coats," Abby said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	literally, figuratively

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tiac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiac/gifts).



> for tiac, who prompted so thoroughly and well!
> 
> thanks to magneticwave, dangercupcake, Snick, Ashe, & clawsandsympathy for their help & encouragement!

Abby was filling out the paperwork for the DBA, because it was two hundred bucks cheaper than incorporating an LLC and all they had to do was mail the paperwork to Albany with a check. So far, starting a business was a lot easier than a grant application, except that you had to do work before people gave you money.

"So," Erin said. "How are we bankrolling this? Just, personally, I'd like to know before I sign a lease."

Abby pointed to Holtzmann, who was tinkering with something under Erin's kitchen sink. It looked like the plumbing, but who knew, right. Holtzmann said, "Hmm? Oh. I have a trust fund."

Erin's eyes darted between Abby and Holtzmann for a few seconds, as if she was going to find more information in Abby's finger or Holtzmann's overalls. "But you--"

"I've never seen this many varieties of mold before," Holtzmann said. "Fascinating."

Patty nodded. "You do dress like someone who has first, last, broker, and a deposit on hand." Then, to Erin's disbelieving look, "Those overalls are Rag & Bone."

"I don't know what that is," Erin said.

"Give me the address again," Abby said, printing neatly in block letters.

* * *

Abby figured out that Holtzmann had a trust fund a few months after they met in grad school. Holtzmann kept buying her lunch. "Like, no offense," Abby said, "The pho here is pretty great, but we could do ramen."

"I got scurvy in undergrad," Holtzmann said.

Abby grimaced. "Erin used to make me drink OJ all the time."

They mutually decided to avoid eye contact by looking at the menu, although they'd come to Truc Lam every day for the last two weeks. 

"I can afford it," Holtzmann said after a minute. "I have a trust fund."

"I would not have arrived at that conclusion on my own," Abby said.

"That's why I have chosen you to be my friend," Holtzmann said gravely.

They stared at their menus again. "The usual?" said their waitress. "Or are you shaking it up today?"

"We'll go with the usual," Abby said. "Don't forget the lemon on the side, okay? Lots of lemon."

Holtzmann gave two thumbs up.

* * *

"So," Patty said.

Abby was getting to know Patty's " _so_ "s. "Okay, spill. Figuratively. I just got this floor clean."

"That's what you think," Holtzmann called from across the room.

"I'm talking about the duck sauce," Abby yelled back.

Patty took Abby by the arm and gently towed her into the booth, where they could pretend to have some privacy. Holtzmann was warming up her soldering iron and Erin was trying to teach Kevin how to use his iPhone contacts: the privacy was mildly less illusory than usual. "What's the deal with the three of you?"

"We're scientists?" Abby said. "Unless you meant to include Kevin."

"Bless that child, no." Patty gestured from Abby to Holtzmann (gleefully affixing things to other things with molten metal) and then to Erin. "I mean, this situation."

"We all believe in ghosts?" Abby tried. "We all have Ph.D.s?"

Patty looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "Is this some kind of Sisterhood of the Traveling Lab Coat or do you have a _history_?"

"None of us wear lab coats," Abby said.

" _Who_ had sex with _who_?" Patty said. 

There was a long pause. 

Patty said, "I was trying to be polite about y'all's vibe, but come on."

Abby made a face. "Jesus. It's normal to, you know, experiment."

"Scientifically," Patty said.

"Yes," Abby said, relieved. "Exactly. But Erin and Holtzmann haven't--"

Patty raised her eyebrows. "They're still in the pigtail tugging stage?"

"I guess you could call it that," Abby said. "I think there's more, ah, nuclear peacocking going on."

"Way to bring the gender binary into it," Holtzmann called over.

"I think you can put emoji in the name field," Erin said, and then, "Yes, the little pictures. You have turn on that keyboard to use them. Why don't I just--do that."

" _Pictures_ ," Kevin said wonderingly.

Patty looked at Abby for a long minute. Abby met Patty's eyes. "Yeah, okay," Abby said. "I can see how it might be a little weird."

"That I'm the only lesbian with some damn sense in this outfit?" Patty said.

"I have plenty of sense," Abby said. "I can follow proper lab safety procedures, unlike that one."

"Jesus," said Patty.

* * *

Abby didn't think about herself as a _lesbian_ very often. That was a broad conclusion to draw from a rather small data set, and Abby was, first and foremost, a scientist. For a couple years, she'd been obsessed with Commander Riker on _Star Trek: the Next Generation_ , but the only people she'd ever been with were women. Erin in high school, Tracy in undergrad, and Holtzmann, more recently, although that was more a friendly and mutual calibration of one's personal settings. If there was a right person out there, whoever they were, they'd come along, and Abby had plenty of things to occupy her attention already.

See: the paranormal.

"Do you know how expensive a bra in my size is?" Abby said to Erin. "I got the East River all the way down my shirt."

Erin sighed. "I know how much bras cost, Abby."

"Can we expense bras?" Patty said. "I'm just saying, I thought the coveralls would deliver a little more mileage."

Holtzmann said, "I didn't wear a bra."

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Abby said, peeking into her cleavage. "I got a fish in here, you guys. That's not good."

A few yards away, the East River lapped placidly against the shore of North Brother Island. The Mayor had called the Ghostbusters out tonight for the anniversary of the wreck of the _General Slocum_. They hadn't been disappointed: spectral fire, actual spectres, and tiny Lutheran ghosts projecting both river water and ectoplasm places they just shouldn't go. 

"Well, nobody new drowned," Erin said brightly. "Let's get these ghosts safely interred and--"

"We're burying ghosts in little time capsules," Patty grumbled. "Definitely nothing bad ever gonna come of _that_."

Then they had to go supervise Pastor Goetsch as she laid two hundred grand of containment gear to rest, attempting to look as solemn as was possible for four women covered in river water and ghostly ooze.

* * *

"So," Erin said. "About this trust fund."

"Hmm?" Abby said.

Above them, the sun in Central Park was starting to teeter away toward the horizon. Patty was leaning against a tree with her phone plugged into a backup charger in her lap, trying to claim a nearby gym for Team Red. It was an idyllic day for people who knew how to relax, so Holtzmann was back in the lab and Erin was here, preventing Abby from dozing off and getting pickpocketed.

"Holtzmann's trust fund, I mean," Erin said.

Abby yawned. "The Mayor paid her back, if that's what you're asking about."

"Not really," Erin said. "I just--I guess, I'm confused. She doesn't seem like--"

"She's just herself," Abby said. 

Erin huffed, frustrated, and threw her arm over her face.

There were some mysteries in life that Abby was determined to investigate--why the fuck no restaurant in New York City could deliver a correct order, ghosts, whether there was underwear in existence that didn't ride up her ass--but the _how_ s and _why_ s of every person around her weren't among them. Holtzmann was Holtzmann. They went dutch on delivery once they had real salaries. Sometimes Abby took them both out for ice cream. Abby didn't need to know the details of Holtzmann's investment accounts, much like she hadn't needed to know what Erin talked about to her therapist. Or whether Erin had one now.

"Look, if you need to know something about Holtzmann, just ask her," Abby said. "She's not too secretive."

"Oh, I've noticed," Erin said. "In case you've forgotten, I know what noise her vagina makes."

Abby laughed. "You and me both."

"GOD," Erin said.

"Well, _I_ haven't heard what noise Holtzy's vag makes," Patty said. "Starting to feel left out."

"She got it on tape, it's not that salacious," Abby said.

Patty rolled her eyes. "On tape and it's not salacious, uh huh, you just tell yourself--mother _fucker_ , you think you can take me with a Magikarp?"

Abby said, "If you really want, we can listen to it when we get back to the lab."

"I don't understand her at all," Erin said.

The summer sky above them was blue and dotted gently with cotton-ball clouds, like a real-life Windows 95 loading screen without the logo. Abby used to lie out in her backyard and look up at skies like this, wondering, _what's out there?_ Erin was the person who made Abby wonder _what's here?_ instead. Abby reached over to take Erin's hand. After so long, the gesture felt scary and unfamiliar, but Erin wove her fingers into Abby's without pause. 

"Stop trying so hard," Abby said. "You can't map what makes a person like the Devo Pandora station so much with an equation. Well, I guess the Pandora people can, but that's their job. You know what I mean."

"You gonna regret this, child," Patty said loudly.

"I like math," Erin said.

Abby said, "I have some news for you, Erin. There's a person in your life who likes math, and you, and doesn't need help enabling the emoji keyboard because she went back to using a Nokia."

"That is frankly appalling," Erin said, but she didn't sound very appalled.

* * *

Patty redid all of the LLC paperwork.

"No offense, but you need help." she said, scrutinizing Abby's draft of their Articles of Incorporation. "I'm used to red tape, and you're used to--"

"Getting turned down by the NSF?" Abby said.

Patty pushed her reading glasses all the way up her nose. They made her look like a sexy librarian who regularly updated her wardrobe at H&M. "I was trying to say that nice."

Abby shrugged. "I'm good at studying the paranormal and ignoring my fear to an unhealthy degree. You're better at a lot of things."

" _Thank_ you, Abby Yates." Patty leaned back in the desk chair until it creaked warningly and looked up at Abby. "I don't hear that a lot, you know."

"Well, that's wrong," Abby said. "You should hear that all the time. You're pretty much the most competent one of us, unless particle physics or nuclear engineering are involved."

"And that's why I keep telling Holtzy that she needs to hand over the car keys."

"Like I said."

Patty smiled. The curve of her mouth prodded something in Abby's chest: for a moment, Abby thought it was a loose underwire. "Thanks." She swiveled her chair toward Abby. "I'm glad to call you my partner."

Abby said, "In the LLC?"

"Generally," Patty said. "I mean, I'd be glad to have you as any kind of partner."

"Oh," Abby said.

"Think about it," said Patty. "Right now, you gotta sign here."


End file.
